Dancing toy



g- 5, 1952 c. SWYERS 2,605,586

DANCING TOY Filed Sept. 13, 1949 CW/ .5 wywif INVENTOR.

Patented Aug. 5, 1952 IUNITED" Y DANCING-TOY foagrswyrawinfielaw. 1 Applicationseptember 1a, 1949,S.erial No. 115,502.: l

dancing bellhop.

Needless to say, I am aware that the fieldof invention' under advisement is made up of many and varied styles and forms of acrobatic-type figure dancers commonly referred to as Jiggers and in some instances, as clog-dancers and, more currently, as tap-dancers. It would be difficult, in this brief survey of the prior art'to make any general statement which would comprehend this category of jigging and dancing toys. However, it is convenient to assume that such toys will often be characterized by a portable base and that the dancer or figure is customarily made up of loose-jointed legs and arms and that some suit able spring supporting or balancing means is utilized to assemble the base, figure and other parts in workable relationship. Such is also a generic description ofmy invention.

After considerable experimenting and making numerous models by trial and error,- I have evolved and, produced what I believe to be an individually distinct toy construction which is novel 7 in that itis characterized by -a yieldably supported paddle which constitutes a spring board, the same being accessibly mounted on a suitable base, the base being held by one hand of the user and the springy end of the paddle or spring board being tapped with a finger of the other hand, there being a loose jointed dancer or figure suspended by an appropriately anchored and shaped spring limb, whereby said parts coordinate their sharing functions in producing an amusing toy which, by skillful manipulation, may be caused to perform uncanny dancing feats.

More explicitly, and in reducing to practice a preferred embodiment of the invention, I provide a baseboard, a block thereon, a spring metal plate and a, wooden paddle, said paddle being yieldable above the base and in respect to the block to provide the desired finger responsive accomplishments. The toy figure has pendulous legs with heavy wooden or equivalent shoes which may be described as clogs arranged to come into variable contact with the free movable end of the spring board by way of a spring which suspends the toy and which constitutes a reach member for properly positioning the toy on the spring board.

Other objects and advantages will become more readily apparent from the following description 7 and the accompanying illustrative drawings.

' w 2 Claims. (Cl. 46-131) a" r V I 2. Inthedrawin sr; 1 j Figure 1 is a perspective view of a toy constructed in accordancewith the principles of this invention and showing themanner in which the sameisused; war;

Figure 2 is a longitudinalsectional view on the central line 2" 2 of-Figure;l, looking-in the direc tion of the arrows;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view onthe line 3-4 of Figure 2, looking inthe direction of the arrows.

Referring now to the drawings, by distinguishing reference numerals-,-the base is a rectangular or equivalent rigid-panel,or board5, 'Mounted on one end; of this :is r; a ;riser {which takes the form of a small Wooden or equivalent block. The forward end of the-blockis convexlycambered as at I. ,A' shallow recess 8 is formed in the upper part of; the blo ck. ;The;main flat face 9-of the blockjserves to support .a metal plate Ill which is secured 'by fastenersll in the-manner shown in Figure -2. There are also headed fasteners l2 and these servenot'only toffasten the adjacent part of the plate but;also to anchor one end of a spring suspension unit 13, Said one end portion l4 has its terminal portions bent upon themselves to form eyes "land [.6 as shown in Figure 3 and the headed fasteners;l 2 pass through these eyes, providing a suitable anchor for the spring suspensionmembenanchored end passes through an aperture l '|;provided therefor in what may be called the yieldable spring arm portion l8 of the plate; This arm terminates in a fiat socket 19 which serves to accommodate the correspondingly shaped and coacting end 20 of the wooden paddle 2|. This paddle in practice is best described as a spring board. Overlying the spring board is the reach portion 22 of the suspension spring. This is attached by way of a coiled spring 23 to the anchored end portion I l. The opposite free end portion of the reach member is of general U- shaped form and. suitably fashioned as at 25. It is appropriately and centrally connected with the body 26 of the clog dancer or figure 21. The figure is a dancing bellhop and has freely swingable arms 28, freely swingable legs 29 and pendulous lower leg portions 30 carrying comparatively weighty shoes or clogs 3f. These clogs are adapted, obviously, to tap and rap against the bouncing end portion 32 of the finger responsive spring board or paddle. In practice, the user places one hand on the block equipped end of the base to hold the block and base fairly steady. Then, with the second finger or perhaps the index finger of the other hand, the finger A, as shown in Figure 1, he taps in a predetermined fashion and manner, on the sleeve or socket l9. 7 This obviously bounces the spring board up and down in any desired rythmic manner. The spring board striking the dangling legs of the dancer will obviously cause these to move up and down and back and forth in a somewhat indeterminate manner. The spring supporting means [3 serves as an adaptor and allows the figure freedom .of play. As a matter of fact, as the figure bounces up and down, the spring means becomes activated and it, teo, in conjunction with the bounding spring board, contributes in animating the action of the dancing figure. Actual models have been made and demonstrated and have been skillfully handled with dextrous control of the manipulator. It is remarkable how the dancing patterns of the figure may be to an extent systematized vention claimed may be resortedto in actual practiceifdesired.

Having de "crib'ed' the invn tionj 'vhat is claimed as new is: Y

1. A fi ure-type dancing toy of the class described comprising a horizontal" base member adapted to be placed and held by the users hand on a relatively fixed support, a spacing block superimposed on and attached to said'base member, a metal plate secured to said block and having an end portion projecting beyond same in spaced parallelism to the base member, said projecting portion being resilient and having a socket member, "a spring board having a reduced end portion fitting telescopically into said socket member permitting the latter to be rhythmically tapped with the users fingers, a resilient reach arm having a coiled spring end portion anchored on said block beneath said plate, said reach arm overlying said spring board, anda figuretoy secured to the outer endfof' saidreach arm and disposed in substantially vertical position above said spring boar'd,'and'includin'g a relatively fixed body portion, freely pivoted and swingable arms, and freely pivoted and jointed legs including lower portions terminating in relatively heavy clogs for 'ment of details coining within the field of in- 4 indeterminate clog-dancing contact with said spring board.

2. A figure-type dancing toy of the class described comprising a horizontal flat base member adapted to be placed and held firmly by the users hand on a relatively fixed support, an elevating block superimposed on and attached to one end of said base member, a metal plate having an end portion superimposed on and fastened to said block, said metal plate having an endportion projecting beyond the block' and terminating short of one end of the base member and pro .vided with a socket member, said projecting end portion having an opening therein between the socket member and block, a rigid paddle having, a reduced end portion telescopically fitted and secured in said. socket member, said paddle constituting a spring board and extending well beyond the corresponding end portion of said base member, a resilient reach arm provided intermediate its ends with a coiled spring, one end of said ,reachimember projecting beyondsaid coiled spring, through the aperture-and being secured between said plate and block, and a dancing-type figure'toy secured to the outer end-of said reach .arm and disposed in a vertical position above said spring board and including a relatively fixed body portion, freely pivoted and swingable arms, and freely pivoted and jointed legs including lower portions terminating in relatively heavy clogs for manually Variable contact with said spring board.

CARL swYnns.

REFERENCES Circe The following reierences'are of recc-rd in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'IENTS France Feb. 20, 1939 

